Photos by Dave Lauberts: on the map, in Google Earth (KML)

from http://mondrem.net/myths/Mermaids_Pool_.html

Near Downfall, a short walk from the Old Oak Wood, not far from Hayfield, is the Mermaid’s Pool. There is a local tradition that a beautiful nymph lives in the side of the Scout, who comes to bathe daily in the Mermaid’s Pool, and that the man who has the good fortune to see her whilst bathing will become immortal. The old folk of Hayfield, moreover, have a long story about a man who, some time in the last century, went from Hayfield over the Scout, and was lucky enough to meet this mountain nymph, by whom he was conducted to a cavern hard by. Tradition adds that she was pleased with this humble mortal, and that he lingered there for some time, when she conferred upon him the precious gift of immortality. One Easter Eve, at twelve o’clock, when Easter Day is coming in, if you look steadfastly into the pool, you will see a mermaid.

Robert Charles Hope, The Legendary Lore of the Holy Wells of England, Elliot Stock, London, 1893 Derbyshire’s most famous mermaid can be seen at midnight, just as Easter Sunday begins each year, or so local legend has it. They say that if you stand at Mermaid’s Pool near Kinder reservoir, at the appointed hour and stare intently into the water, you will see the mermaid swimming. Most certainly, this dark pool has an unearthly look about it, even on the brightest summer’s day. There is alleged to be some mystical connection with the Atlantic Ocean and that no fish can survive its salty waters. Indeed, no animal will pause to slake its thirst from the water. The Mermaid’s Pool is undoubtedly a place with an indefinable atmosphere. It is a place that has inspired people to put pen to paper and record its existence in lyrical style. Mrs Humphrey Ward used the legend of the Mermaid’s Pool in her novel, “David Grieve”, and Henry Kirke wrote a ballad in which he tells of a shepherd boy who became infatuated with the mermaid who, according to Kirke’s version of the tale, was a siren, promising men immortality, but instead luring them to their deaths. The popular legend claims that anyone who sees the mermaid on Easter Eve will either enjoy the secret of eternal life – or will lose their lives that very night. One regular visitor to her pool on Easter Eve was one Aaron Ashton, a retired soldier who came from Hayfield, three miles away. As far as we know, Aaron never saw the mermaid, but as he lived to the ripe old age of 104, dying in 1835, then perhaps he did brush her presence.

Anton Rippon, Folktales and Legends of Derbyshire, Minimax Books, Peterborough, 1982 It is reputed that those who see her gain everlasting life. In the nineteenth century the people of Hayfield, the town nearby, firmly believed this. No one has ever been known to actually confirm that he or she has physically seen her. One person from Hayfield, Aaron Ashton, went to the pool every Easter Sunday, but he too never commented on his visits. We are left to conjecture, for he died aged 104 in 1835.

Another version of the legend states that the mermaid lures the watching males into the pool. If the person refuses to come into the pool with her, she drags you in to your death. It is said that several people have drowned because of this.

John Merrill, Derbyshire Folklore, JNM Publications, Matlock, 1988 The Mermaid’s Pool near Kinder Reservoir is a lonely and desolate place. No fish live in it, no animals will drink from it, and no birds nest near it. But it is the haunt of one wonderful creature. If you are a young man in search of financial gain, you might decide to go to the pool at the stroke of midnight, just as Easter Sunday begins. If you do, you will see there a mermaid swimming. Not only will you be struck by her great beauty, you will also enjoy good fortune for the following twelve months. The poet Henry Kirke described the mermaid thus:

‘Her golden hair fell o’er her shoulders white, And curled in amorous ringlets round her breasts; Her eyes were melting into love, her lips Made the very roses envious; Withal a voice so full, and yet so clear, So tender, made for loving dialogues.’

However your good fortune will only be in money or goods. You will never again be lucky in love, because you will have fallen in love with the mermaid on first sight. Although you may search for a human bride for the whole of your life, you will never find a mortal girl to match the mermaid you once saw in the pool on Kinder Scout. This inability to fall in love with a real girl is the price you must pay for your good luck in worldly wealth. Indeed, the youth in Henry Kirke’s poem is so infatuated with the mermaid he first met on Easter Eve, that he returns to the pool and throws himself into its depths, in an attempt to be reunited with her again.

David Bell, Derbyshire Ghosts and Legends, Countryside Books, Berkshire, 1993 NOTES:

The first two paragraphs, taken from Robert Hope’s book, were listed by him under separate entries, the first being ‘Hayfield’ and the second being ‘Mill Hill, Chapel-en-le-Frith’. Since there is neither a Mermaid’s Pool nor a Mill Hill near Chapel-en-le-Frith, but both are to be found near Hayfield, I have assumed he made a mistake, probably due to being informed by two separate sources. It’s likely that his informant in the second case used the name Chapel-en-le-Frith because it is larger and better-known than Hayfield. I have therefore treated them as belonging to the same legend. The way Robert Hope describes her is confusing – while he uses the term ‘Mermaid’s Pool’ he writes of her as being a ‘mountain nymph’ who happens to like swimming in it from time to time. This goes against all the other accounts, in which she is definitely a water-nymph. This is also an illustration of the damage that can be done by typing a single letter incorrectly. In the book Sea Enchantress: The Tale of the Mermaid and her Kin the authors say that the nymph took him to a ‘tavern’ nearby.

from http://www.normanton-on-soar.co.uk/article.php?id=98 The oldest building in the village is St James Church, which was built between 1141 and 1147. Inside, the Royal Arms of Charles II can be found placed there after the civil war.

From http://handbooks.btcv.org.uk/handbooks/content/chapter/203

Dry stone walls reflect the bedrock or glacial drift material which lies beneath them. Originally built with what came to hand during field clearance, few field walls were important enough to warrant the transport of stones over any great distance. The Enclosure Era blurred the lines slightly, as for example on the borders of the Craven district of Yorkshire, where sandstone 'throughs' were sometimes transported several miles across country to use in the limestone walls. In the Cotswolds, much walling stone was produced as a by-product of building-stone quarries located some miles away. On the whole though, even during the most intensive period of new walling, most stone was quarried very close to the lines of the walls. Stones were carted, carried or sledged downslope to the work site, with small quarries being constantly opened and abandoned as the wall progressed.

With modern transport, some walls, particularly new or rebuilt roadside walls have lost their distinctive local identity as stone is transported over greater distances. In the Lake District, for example, there has been much rebuilding in cut slate supplied by a few big quarries. Although cheaper and quicker to build, these walls can look quite foreign to those of different types of stone or local slate. Generally though, the policy is to try and blend new work with old, so that the two can hardly be distinguished once the harsher angles and different colour of new stone have weathered and aged. There are often unavoidable differences with new stone, as modern quarries may have stone of a slightly different character from older quarries in similar stone.

Despite these qualifications, dry stone walls provide an excellent introduction to local geology. At the same time, geology reveals why the walls are there in the first place, and why they take on rather different forms in different areas. This connection between local geology and dry stone walling is developed in the following section.

The simplified geological column below helps put into perspective the approximate ages of the various types of walling stone mentioned in this handbook.

Virtually all stone used in this country for dry walling dates from the Jurassic Period or earlier, although Cretaceous materials such as flints are found in mortared walls in southern England, where more suitable stone is generally lacking. The most important types of stone for dry walling include Jurassic and Carboniferous limestones, Triassic, Permian, Carboniferous and Devonian sandstones, Silurian, Ordovician and Cambrian slates and shales, Precambrian metamorphic rocks, and volcanic and granitic and other intrusive rocks of various ages.

from http://www.hedgelaying.org.uk/styles.htm

The History of Hedge Laying.

In 55BC Julius Caesar recorded the fact that the "Nervi" tribe in Flanders, "Cut into slender trees and bent them over so that many branches came out along the length; they finished this off by inserting brambles and briars, so that these hedges formed a defence like wall, which could not only not be penetrated but not even seen through". Any modern hedgelayer would be proud to have his work so described and it is clear that even at this early date the skills of the hedgelayer were highly developed. When and how did it all start? We may never know but we can guess.

Farmers who keep sheep, cattle etc are faced with the problem of keeping them in one place. Nomads wandering with their flock of sheep would have to watch them day and night to prevent them from straying. Eventually they conceived the idea of building a fence by weaving tree branches in and out of stakes driven into the ground. The use of interwoven branches has been known for many thousands of years and was used to build houses etc. Sooner or later perhaps some shepherd bent a living branch to make his fence. Perhaps the branch did not break off, and he later realised that it continued to grow.

Hedge laying as we know it today began in the 18th century. As open fields were enclosed they were marked out, first with ditches and then hedges. A hedge left to grow unchecked will eventually become a line of trees and of no use for retaining livestock. Barbed wire was unknown at that time and so ways were sought to make the hedges stock proof. Once again the skills of the hedgelayer came to the fore.

Today's hedgelayers are as much concerned with conserving our countryside as with making stock proof hedges. We now have a much greater knowledge of wildlife and how, well-managed hedges are essential to the countryside.

from http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-highpeakestate/w-highpeakestate-countryside/w-east_midlands-places-peakdistrict-map-jacobsladder.htm

an ancient monument once marking the boundary of the land given to the Abbey of Basingwerke near Holywell, Flintshire, in 1157. It is also known as Champion Cross and stands near the point where the three old Forest wards of Champayne, Hopedale and Longdendale met. The cross was not only a boundary stone but one of a number of guide posts on the packhorse route.

from http://www.cressbrook.co.uk/features/kinder.php

Kinder Scout is a high windswept upland gritstone plateau, most of which stands at around 600 metres above sea level. The highest point is Crowden Head, which at 631 metres is also the highest point in the Peak District. This is the largest and grandest of the great upland areas of the so-called 'Dark Peak' and it forms an imposing and fascinating area.

Kinder Downfall The Kinder plateau rises steeply from the surrounding ground and the edges are studded with rocky outcrops and crags. At the western side the Kinder River flows straight off the edge of the plateau in a spectacular waterfall, Kinder Downfall, but this is just the largest of a whole series of crags. The northern edge of the plateau is a long series of rocks and there are several crags on the southern edge too. To the east the level of the plateau gradually lowers and tapers to a narrow neck of high land at Hope Cross which connects Kinder to Win Hill.

Grindsbrook The edge of the plateau is scored by deep cloughs or river valleys - on the west side the Kinder River and William Clough lead down to Hayfield, on the north side the Ashop and Fairbrook streams and on the south side the various branches of the River Noe - Crowden Brook, Grindsbrook, Lady Booth Brook and Jaggers Clough.

Kinder from Hayfield Reservoir Kinder is most popularly approached by walkers either from Edale village, up Grindsbrook, or via Jacob's Ladder and on to Kinder Low, or from Hayfield up William Clough and on to the north-west corner of the plateau. In general the eastern and northern parts of the plateau are less accessible and therefore less busy. A circuit of the whole plateau is a long day by any standards but a very enjoyable outing.

Unfortunately the peat layer is suffering from serious erosion because of overgrazing by sheep and because so many walkers are coming to the area - this is especially true along the Pennine Way, above Edale village and around Kinder Low, where the peat has disappeared in a radius of 150 metres around the trig point.

Been there! - PS thanks for the comment

Great Photo

Thanks for the comments, much appreciated

Great Stuff